Fava Beans Guide: How to Prepare Fresh and Dried Fava Beans

Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are mild-tasting legumes that grow in green bean pods which are harvested in the spring from flowering pea plants. Fava beans can be prepared fresh, cooked, or dried, and are often used in salads, stir-fries, and stews. Fava beans have a light, buttery, and slightly bitter taste. When cooked, they have a grainy and tender texture similar to chickpeas.

Fava beans are one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops. They were eaten by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. They are also a natural source of protein, fiber, potassium, and magnesium, vitamin c, zinc, copper, and calcium. They are a high-folate food with 177 micrograms of folate—which aids in new blood cell production and cell function—in one cup of beans.

You can steam, boil, sauté, purée, or fry fava beans, or eat them raw, but here are four specific ways to enjoy fava beans.

1. 1. Dips: Purée your fava beans in a food processor to make a host of dips like hummus, pesto, or a simple fava bean dip.
2. 2. Salads: You can steam or simply throw raw fava beans into any salad for a little extra protein. You can make your own bean salad—with fava beans, green beans, chickpeas, and kidney beans—or toss fava beans with some lemon juice, olive oil, and pecorino cheese for a fava bean salad.
3. 3. Stews: Fava beans can be boiled into a number of stews from chili, to fava bean stew, to ful medames, an Egyptian fava bean stew.
4. 4. Falafel: You can substitute dried fava beans for chickpeas in any falafel recipe.

If you’re working with fava bean pods, keep in mind that two pounds of green pods will yield around one cup of actual beans. Once you have enough beans, this is how to prep them to be cooked:

1. 1. Shell the beans. Snap the end of the shell and pull down along the seam of the pod to access the beans inside. When you open up the shell, you should find four or five beans inside.
2. 2. Blanch the beans. When you open up the pods, you’ll notice that the fava beans have a protective membrane around each individual bean, which you need to remove. Boil a large pot of water and add a pinch of salt, then place the shelled beans into the boiling water for about one minute. Immediately after, blanch the beans in an ice bath to stop them from cooking. Remove the beans from the ice water, and the membrane around the bean should be tender. Let the beans cool.
3. 3. Peel the beans. Remove the clear outer skin from the beans by pinching one edge of the bean between your thumb and forefinger. Once they’re peeled, they can be eaten raw or cooked as a part of a larger dish.

Fava beans primarily grow in the springtime, so if it’s the winter you may need to buy dried fava beans from your grocery store. Here is an overview of how to prep dried fava beans.

1. 1. Soak the beans to loosen the outer layer. Fill a pot with 10 cups of water for every pound of beans, and leave them to soak overnight to loosen their protective outer layers. You can also do a quick soak, in which you boil the beans for three minutes, and allow them to sit in the hot water for one hour.
2. 2. Peel the beans. Your beans will expand when they have been sufficiently soaked. Now, the protective outer layer should be tender enough for you to peel off by pinching it between your thumb and forefinger.
3. 3. Boil the beans. Place your beans in more boiling water and cook them until they are tender enough to eat. This should take around 45 minutes.

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